Blithe Hallow High
by Romantic-Flights
Summary: The gangs all here, but for how long? Join the Mystery Kids as they solve dangerous riddles, fight bad guys, figure out some emotional issues, and survive the dramas of High School!


Coraline groaned as her alarm clock rang out to get her attention. She reluctantly reached out a hand and as she smashed the off button she wondered why she should even bother getting up. The bed was cozy, the covers were warm and what was out there; another miserable day of school. Being a sophomore, she had already been going for three days, and it was already something she dreaded. Coraline then decided that school was no longer worth losing sleep over and that she would just spend the rest of the day in bed. She was too cool for school anyway. School was stupid. Her bed was nice and smart. Yes. And warm. And it had a down blanket. Did school have a down blanket? Coraline didn't think so. That's right, her bed had more to offer than any stupid private high school.

"CORALINE!" Oh no. "You're going to be late for your ride to school!" No no no no no no absolutely not. "You don't want to make Wybie wait out in the cold again, do you? He almost caught a cold last time!" No, her mom was not going to guilt trip her into getting out of bed today or tomorrow or the day after that. No-way-José. Coraline was too done with school to care about what happened to Wybie. Sure he might catch a cold, or the flu, or some terrible skin-eating disease but really, what was there for her to worry about. Really.

Ten minutes later Coraline was up, dressed, fed, and almost ready to go to school. As she scurried about the kitchen to pack her lunch she passed Mel, who cocked an eyebrow and allowed the corner of her mouth to turn up just a fraction.

"Stuff a sock in it, Mom." Coraline said, rolling her eyes and playfully punching her mother on the shoulder as she passed her on the way to the fridge.

"I didn't say anything sweetie." Mel answered teasingly. "Also there's some leftover chicken in the fridge if you want some." Coraline yanked the old thing open and rooted around a bit. She cringed as one of her hands pressed against something cold, slimy, and most likely outlived its edibility by a few weeks. After wiping her hand on her uniform skirt Coraline found her father's single decent creation since he started cooking at the bottom, right underneath the eel livers. Coraline's father had insisted that they were just stuffed peppers, but she knew better.

"Are you sure I can have this? What are you going to eat for lunch?" Coraline knew that, despite the ridicules amount of leftovers they had, there was nothing in the house to really eat.

"Don't worry about me," Mel shrugged, not taking her eyes off her laptop. "I've lived with your father's cooking for quite a few more years than you." Coraline thought this over for a minute.

"Well…okay…." The bluenette shrugged and walked back to her waiting lunchbox. Just as she finished zipping the small blue pouch she heard the faint sound of an engine. Early. Typical Wybie. Coraline hoisted her backpack over her shoulder, slipped the lunchbox into the crook of her arm, grabbed her striped gloves from the counter and headed for the door. "See you after school Mom!"

"Stay safe!"

As Coraline closed the door behind her Wybie steadied his homemade dirt bike to a sputtering halt in front of the rickety old porch of the Pink Palace. Coraline wondered briefly why she would allow herself to ride on something that looked like a death-trap on wheels. Then she remembered that she didn't really allow herself to worry about things like that, because if she did she would never do anything at all.

"Hey Jonesy." Wybie smiled at her, his hair as ridiculously unkempt as ever. "Ready to go?"

"Ready?" Coraline asked, rolling her eyes. Only a week into sophomore year and she was already dreading the sound of the first bell. "For school? Never in a million years." Wybie laughed as she hopped on his bike. "Are you?"

* * *

"No." Dipper responded flatly as the bus jiggled and bumped along the old road. Dipper smelled something funny, deciding that it was probably rampant teenage hormones. Not his of course.

"Why not? I'm sure there are a ton of nerds just like you! It'll be fun!" Mabel said, trying to get her twin excited for their first day of high school.

"If your definition of fun is getting shoved into your locker or getting dumped into the trashcan, then yes, this experience will be just dandy. It'll be the best day ever for you and your sick, twisted expectations of a good time. Meanwhile, I, a person of sensible tastes in the area of fun, will be hiding safely in the bathroom for most of the day."

"Dipper, those chick flicks are finally getting to you. Not all high schools are all cliquey."

"I don't watch chick flicks, Mabel."

"Sure you do! I know for a fact your favorite movie is Mean Girls!"

"Mabel!"

* * *

"What is it, Neil." Norman asked, finally allowing himself to be pulled away from a conversation with one of the local ghosts.

"This is going to be so cool! I bet you'll meet a ton of cool new ghosts!" The pudgy redhead smiled at Norman as they continued their walk up to the school gates. "Promise me you'll draw some of them for me, so I know what they look like, okay?" Norman couldn't help but smile at Neil's enthusiasm.

"I'll be sure to do that." Norman looked back towards the looming gates of the school, and something told him that this year of high school was going to be exciting. He really didn't know whether to take that as a good thing considering this was his first year at Blithe Hallow High. Did he want it to be exciting? He couldn't really say. As long as the excitement wasn't stemming from any tormentors then Norman figured it would be okay. He sighed inwardly; knowing his luck it would probably be just that.

As the pair continued to walk, Norman noticed that the grass seemed to die off the closer they got to the school. As they passed the gates onto the campus he noticed that all the greenery had died off long before they had gotten there. From the looks of some of the trees the garden hadn't been properly tended for years, and the school had left its brown and wiry remains to rot in the elements. Norman wondered if the school had just made a terrible choice in gardeners, but something in his gut told him it was much more than that.

Much much more than that.

* * *

"Should I be worried?" Raz asked, obviously nonchalant about the whole thing. Sure this school was creepy and all, but what reasons did he have to worry. He was a trained Psychonaut after all, and Psychonauts didn't even have words like fear and worry in their vocabulary.

"Well, I was never properly trained in mediumship, but I'm pretty sure this place is more than just gloomy." Lili looked around, looking almost fearful. Raz knew it was his imagination though, because he knew that Lili would never worry herself over something as trivial as some harmless specters. "I wish I could see these things, these ghosts, if that's what they are."

"Look, I can sense them too" And he could, to some degree. "But I really don't think they're anything to worry about. I mean, have you heard of a ghost causing any trouble for living people?" He had heard stories about strange happenings and poltergeists and the works, but Raz figured those were all tall tales, passed around and exaggerated with time. After all, if anything serious had actually happened, Psychonauts headquarters would have been notified and experienced paranormal paratroopers would have been dispatched to deal with the problem. "They headquarters would tell us about stuff like that, right?"

Lili looked around the empty classroom once more, hugging her shoulders. "Right."


End file.
